city streets

With the number of cyclists in San Francisco continuing to increase, creating a safe environment for bike commuters poses a serious challenge. One option currently being explored in…

The thought of being killed as a pedestrian in San Francisco is terrifying. Fatal pedestrian accidents happen far too often in the Bay Area, especially considering that San Francisco was recently ranked the second most walkable city by the website Walk Score. Unfortunately, it’s nearly impossible to guarantee pedestrian safety in a busy city like San Francisco. Organizations like WalkSF have been incredible about raising awareness about pedestrian safety programs and lobbying the city to make serious improvements. But fatal accidents remain too common far in San Francisco, which has already mourned 9 pedestrians this year.

As a proud San Francisco resident, I’m excited when organizations or magazines rank the city as a great destination for anything and everything. That was my initial reaction when I saw this week that the website Walk Score ranked San Francisco as the country’s second most walkable city, and my former home, Oakland, as the country’s 10th most walkable. But as the writer for a Bay Area streets safety blog, it didn’t take long for this initial glee to turned to skepticism. I’m constantly reading about tragic pedestrian deaths on San Francisco streets – last week marked the city’s 8th already this year – and I know that even more pedestrian accidents go unreported. So while I’m glad to see that San Francisco is a walkable city on paper, the city must earn that reputation by getting serious about improving pedestrian safety.

It’s no secret that biking on San Francisco’s Oak and Fell streets can be incredibly dangerous. In fact, the cross-town city arteries have proven dangerous for motorists as well, as emphasized by last week’s fatal big rig accident at the corner of Oak Street and Octavia Boulevard. To heal this problem, the San Francisco Municipal Transit Agency has developed a plan to make these streets safer for motorists and cyclists alike by adding cross-town bike lanes. But this comes with a catch that could derail the plan altogether: the proposed bike lanes would replace a full lane of moving traffic or parking spaces, which some San Francisco residents have deemed unfeasible.

Yesterday morning, a big rig truck collided with a UCSF shuttle van, killing 52 year-old Dr. Kevin Mack and injuring three other passengers. The accident occurred on Octavia Boulevard, which has been considered an accident hotspot for the past half decade after the Central Freeway ramp opened in 2006. The police are investigating the details of this fatal accident, and city officials have vowed to take a closer look at Octavia’s safety record and potential safety improvements.

A string of high-profile multi-million dollar settlements against the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency indicates that the city would save millions in the long run by putting forward funds to improve street safety for cyclists and pedestrians. This point was underscored last week by a record $5.36 million Muni settlement for a 2008 Muni accident that killed cyclist David Wheeler near Ocean Beach in San Francisco.

It’s always fun to write about good news related to traffic safety in San Francisco. That pleasure comes this week as the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency reports that in 2010, Muni bus accidents dropped 50 percent below the previous year. The improvement is attributed to a new camera installed in all Muni busses in November 2009 to record the cause of Muni accidents and monitor dangerous driving behavior of Muni operators. The 50 percent drop in bus accidents is an indication that the DriveCam will have a serious positive impact on San Francisco traffic safety.

Since The Bay Citizen began publishing local news little more than a year ago, their Bike Accident Tracker app has been one of my favorite features. First, the app mapped San Francisco bicycle accidents and tracked the causes and conditions for each collision. This week, the Citizen has expanded its bike accident tracker to include all Bay Area bicycle accidents, and has found some surprising statistics. Though San Francisco reports far more bike accidents than Contra Costa County, for example, the suburban area (also the home of GJEL’s main office), is far more dangerous in terms of percentage of cyclists involved in bike accidents each year.

Early this morning, Wednesday May 25, a pedestrian was struck and killed by a vehicle on the corner of Pierce Street and Lombard Street in San Francisco’s Marina District. San Francisco Police Department spokesman Lt. Troy Dangerfield said the 30-year-old driver did not see the pedestrian before the collision took place, but did not appear to be driving under the influence of alcohol. This tragic death follows a string of pedestrian accidents on Masonic Avenue that led to a $20 million plan to improve pedestrian safety on that street, and highlights the need for additional pedestrian safety plans throughout San Francisco.